“Patience” is word that you have probably heard a lot! But you may wonder…”what on earth is patience, and why does everyone keep telling me to have it?”

Patience is waiting for something or someone. It is accepting delay without getting angry or upset.

It is waiting for someone else to speak when you have something to say!

It is waiting to eat before everyone is at the table!

It is waiting for your birthday even though you may want a present now!

It is letting some else in front of you on line!

Patience is trying something again when you want to give up.

Patience doesn’t sound like much fun. And to be truthful, sometimes, it’s not. And with so much technology in the world, we don’t always have to be patient. For example, we are able to stream our favorite TV shows on our cell phones, watch movies on demand, go to restaurants where food is served hot and fast, among many other things.

So, why wait when we can have everything right now? Because just about any successful person has patience. Many good and important things take patience. For example, most great inventors and explorers have a lot of patience!

When Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb, it took him over 1,000 tries!

It took the Wright Brothers 6 years to invent the airplane!

It took another 6 years to send a man to the moon!

It takes between 150 and 300 days to travel from Earth to Mars!

If the great inventors of our time did not have patience and self control, you would likely not be reading this right now. In fact, you might be living in a cave or tent somewhere. You would have no electricity, no car, no school and almost certainly no internet!

Here are some great quotes for kids about these very important habits…patience and self control!

“Patience is bitter. But its fruit is sweet.” – Aristotle

“Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while you’re waiting.” –Joyce Meyer

“Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” – Saddi

“Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.” – Samuel Johnson

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties appear and obstacles vanish.” – John Quincy Adams

“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” – Arnold H. Glasow

“Be patient and understanding. Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious.” ­- Phillips Brooks

“Our patience will achieve more than our force.” –Edmund Burke

“Genius is eternal patience.” – Michelangelo

“Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” – Napoleon Hill

“With love and patience, nothing is impossible.” – Daisaku Ikeda

“The strongest of all warriors are these two-Time and Patience.” — Leo Tolstoy

“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” – Moliere

“I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.” – Margaret Thatcher

“Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience.” – George-Louis de Buffon

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

“There is little that can withstanda man who can conquer himself.” – Louis XIV

“A person always breaking off from work never finishes anything.” – Nigerian proverb

“If we don’t discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.” –William Feather

Additional Resources:

Topics for Discussion:

Think of a time when someone was patient with you. What happened? If you feel comfortable, share it with someone.

Tell of a time when you chose to be patient, rather than become angry. What was the outcome? Was it good or bad, and why?

Ask your grandparents, parents and teachers what life was like when they were your age. Think about how different things are now. Do you think they needed more patience? Why or why not?

Take Action:

Choose one thing in your life where you are not patient and make a commitment to change this. Start doing it and see how it makes you feel.

Take action with something that may be hard to do, but matters to you. Find a cause that you care about, such as animals, and find something you can do to help. Click here for a great list of ideas to help animals from the ASPCA or here for a list of project ideas from GenerationOn.

Teacher Features:

Here is a link to a Critical Reading Skills worksheet that you can use for elementary school students.

Here is a link to a Critical Reading Skills worksheet that you can use for middle